A quick update. …

Sorry it’s been a quiet month on Tales From The Mancave….the girls have been excitedly preparing for Christmas and I’ve been kept busy with shopping, wrapping, chopping, cooking and playing games that sadly aren’t the kind I’d usually post about. So I’m going to give a quick update to keep your all advised of what’s been going down.  Let’s keep this simple. ….

I managed to grab three Star Trek Attack Wing Reinforcement Blind Booster Bricks for the forthcoming Temporal Cold War OP Series. I’ll be trying to post about each vessel and stick some pictures up as soon as I can.

Sticking with a space theme I’ll move next onto Star Wars.  I managed to grab a viewing of The Force Awakens on opening day and was like a child in a sweetshop with Daddy’s credit card!  Lol. Gaming wise I managed to pick up the last remaining ship I required to complete my Star Wars X-Wing collection. …the Tantive 4. Now onto Wave 8.  Being a massive Imperial fan I also wanted to get my dirty hands on the impressive Gozanti class Imperial Assault Carrier to swell the ranks of my Imperial Fleet.  I grabbed one for a very good deal of £39.67 (including P&P) from boardgameprices.co.uk which I was very happy about!

Sticking with Star Wars Christmas was very kind to me and I managed to get a whole heap of Star Wars Imperial Assault goodies from my girls.  I received Dengar to add to my wretched hive of scum in IG-88 & Boba Fett. I’m aiming to put together the whole line up of Bounty Hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. …so I need 4-Lom, Zuckuss and Bossk.  Then I’ll have then go toe to toe with my other games worth of hunters….the Predators from Prodos’ AvP.  I also got a copy of the latest expansion for SW:IA Return to Hoth. Finally I was given a load of Villain and Ally packs to build my SW:IA forces; – a Royal Guard Champion,  Kayn Samos, Chewbacca, Han Solo, R2-D2 & C-3PO and Princess Leia. So I can now assemble the whole gang from the films.  Happy gamer!

I did post a while ago about me returning to the Judge Dredd fold at NAGA to have some games with Brent Jay and Co. Well I was watching some very good deals on EBay and add luck would have it I did manage to scoop up the whole lot for a very decent price of £37 (including P&P). I ended up winning auctions for gangs for Judge Cals Personal Retinue, Justice Dept. Mega City Judges and Specialist Judges. So they’ll go onto the gaming table for use at some point in January against Brent.

The Hairy Gamers (me and Tris) took a little road trip to Dragonmeet in London during December to collect our AvP Wave 2 pledges and boy was there a whole load to struggle through a busy convention with.  I now have 3x Alien Warriors, 2x Alien Queens, 2x Royal Guards, 2x Alien Crushers, 2x Predaliens, 2x Alien Eggs, 2x Berserker Predators, 2x Predator HellHounds, 2x USCM Powerloaders and 1x each set of Dice (USCM, Aliens & Predators). I also bought an extra two boxes of Alien Warriors from Asylum Wargames Online Shop for a great price of £10 each. You can grab some too by visiting them on http://asylumwargaming.tictail.com/ . These guys have great deals on all sorts of goodies residual if you’re interested in Macrocosm or AvP.

This takes me neatly onto Macrocosm. Despite the awesome Chris Nicholls being very busy with his adventure into fatherhood for the second time he managed to go above and beyond to send out my Macrocosm Malignancy pledge.  Once the chaos of Christmas has subdued I’ll try to take some pictures and post more about this! Thanks Chris.  If you too are interested in Macrocosm then you can find more details on the website at http://www.macrocosm.co.uk/

Whilst we were on our road trip I managed to teach Tris the rules for The Devils Run and we even managed to grab a couple of demo games on the stand the Word Forge Games team were using.  Both of us are mad keen for this game and with any luck I’ll be able to help Mark Rapson with some more play testing and reviewing of the game in the build up to shipping.  With so many ideas for this game, with me posting regular bat-reps and reviews and with Mad Max Fury Road available on Blu-Ray and DVD it was inevitable that others would be drawn into the TDR:R666 game. Recently Tris and I expanded the Hairy Gamers family by inviting Gareth Mosley and James Hall to join our ranks. Both have the R666 bug and are busy trash-bashing and scheming for when R666 drops.  James has been busy using any and all HotWheels and Matchbox cars he can get his busy hands on to bash together some cars to use.  I myself am waiting until my pledge drops to see what gaps I have in my collection before getting too busy with trash-bashing. My ideas are mainly for scenery and game tiles based on British Roads rather than the American ones in the game.

Guildball now. ….as some of my regular readers will recall I play in a local Guildhall league at Black Dragon Games in Hinckley. Sadlt this has not been going to we’ll for my Fishermen who have lost their opening two encounters against Craigs Mort-Union team (12-8) & Andy T’s murderous Butchers (12-4). This week I have a double header of games planned against David Mustin and Mark Southerd in store on Tuesday so watch this space for that.  I’ve gone in half’s on a Union Starter with David to get me a copy of Avarisse and Greede to add to my Union Starter of Blackheath, Decimate and Gutter. I also added a Harry “The Hat” Hallahan to my Union line-up this month as well as hopefully getting the miniatures I’m owed by Jay Finnegan in the form of Fangtooth and Hemlocke. At some point I’ll have to grab me a copy of Coin,  the Union Mascot, so I can play Union too. I’ll do a “Gaming on a Budget” post later to cover my Guildball activities.  Having seen a couple of demo’s at Dragonmeet and spoken to one of the brains behind Guildball, Rich, Hairy Gamer Tris had also picked up a great deal on a Masons team for Guildball so we’ll probably throw down at some point even if it’s just to teach him the rules.

Lastly im going to talk about Frostgrave. Not the game or any bat-reps or warband stuff but mostly terrain.  I managed to grab myself two of the old Games Workshop Mighty Fortress plastic kits from EBay as a starter for my planned scenery. I wanted to build the walls of Felstadt. I also picked up 84 Lemax Snow Covered Wintery Pine Trees, a Garden of Morr kit from GW and some rather large Amera plastic moulded kits for their F204 Large Hill Top Ruin (Fantasy Realms page) & Z236 Corner Ruined Building  (Future Zone page). You can take a closer look at thier range on the link below;-

http://www.amera.co.uk/product.php?range=f

Once I get the chance to do anything with any of the above I’ll post something.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all!

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Month 5 – Part 10)

So Mancavers, this months update sees me give you some very quick and dirty match reports for two games this week.

On Monday evening my Fishermen Team of Shark, Salt, Jac, Greyscales, Sakana and Siren took on Mark Southerd’s Alchemists which consisted of Calculus, Compound, Midas, Katalyst, Vitriol and Flask.

I forgot so much in this game. Once Salt was removed I completely forgot the +2 Bonus MOM, +2 TAC and +2″/+2″ MOV per player which might have helped.

Glad I swapped Kraken for Greyscales, I do like him. Should probably drop Siren if no Kraken so will go with Angel next time around. I remain to be convinced about Sakana but I’d need a bigger threat than him as an option. Maybe Fangtooth? Maybe Gutter?

Mark was patient as ever and deserved his win if for no other reason than putting up with my stupid questions and changing the damage I apply when I read things properly.

6-4 to Marks Alchemists. His team took out Shark, Siren and Salt. I scored with Greyscales following a Shark knockdown on Midas and Salt stealing the ball before passing to Greyscales using a snap shot.

Tonight saw my nemesis Andy T come over for a game with his new Engineers team.

The newly rejigged lineup for my Fishermen took to the field against Andy’s Engineers tonight.

The lineup was Shark, Salt, Jac, Sakana, Angel and Greyscales. Sakana and Greyscales on the wings with Angel and Shark up front with Jac and Salt sat in behind sweeping up.

I think Andy had Ballista, Mainspring, Colossus, Velocity, Ratchet and Salvo.

We didn’t grab any pics as we got straight into it tonight.

Back to winning ways! 12-10 to my Fishermen. I think I’m finally getting to grips with my preferred team and tactics. My first turn was shaky as having kicked off with Salt I dragged him back with Jac’s activation and waited for the smoke to settle to strike. Shark quickly engaged and stole the ball from Ballista before scoring early in turn two. 4-0 Fishermen.

Andy was unlucky and was whiffing rolls allowing me a chance to not take damage and keep mobile. Sakana was keeping Velocity at bay and under threat from his range 2 melee on the left. Immediately after kick off the ball scattered into range of Velocity who activated next. Despite an attack of opportunity on Velocity an unopposed run and an open goal meant Velocity struck back immediately. 4-4

I kicked off hoping to gather with Angel and score again but the scatter from the goal was unfriendly and snapped to Ballista as soon as he activated.

Shark activated his legendary and really slowed the Engineers who were all caught with it. Jac and Greyscales did some great work on the right flank to rob the ball from the Engineer captain and did enough to tackle and dodge away. Using Greyscales remaining influence to run and shoot plus the momentum I was generating he scored again with a screamer to take extra momentum which he used to run the length and get away from the Engineer defence and back into the wing. 8-4 Fishermen.

Yet again the kick off placement and scatter favoured the Engineers and yet again the ball was close to Colossus. Jac stripped him of it and Salt gathered before advancing down the right flank hiding behind Jac and Greyscales.

Now not shackled by Sharks legendary play Balliata threw some nastiness at Salt killing him. 8-6 Fishermen.

Theball was dropped and scattered off the pitch. Restarting from the centre spot the ball conveniently fell within a few inches of Velocity who again activated next, ran, collected the ball and had another easy unopposed shot at my goal to take the lead. 8-10 to Engineers.

This time the ball scatter was kind of in my favour as it landed between Colossus, Angel and Jac. Colossus and Ballista had been busy doing what they do best knocking my players over making it hard to keep mobile and leaving both Jac and Angel knocked down.

It would be hard to score without using my bonus momentum from Salt and then somehow generating more for a shot. Now buffed by extra MP and +2″/+2″ from Salt being taken out by Ballista it wad left to Jac get up and clear Colossus out for Angel. He spent a momentum to get up, activated Ramming Speed and jogged 7″ at Colossus pushing him away before attacking him to get a momentous 1″ dodge. Using his Heroic play, Trident Tested he shoved Collosus even further away from Angel. Now she was out of strike range of any unactivated Engineer so whoever Andy activated couldn’t do anything to her or the ball. Angel could activate next. I had 2 momentum thanks to Jac’s earlier momentous dodge.

Angel spent a momentum to stand up leaving me 1 for the shot. Thanks to her 3 influence and Salts demise she could sprint 10″ grabbing the ball on the way before using her play Super Shot to shoot with 5 dice from 10″ out. Threat range of 20″…..19″ away. Goal fishermen for a 12-10 victory and game!

I think I’m finally getting to grips with the playstyle I want to use with the Fishermen. Every game I learn something new and until my Union Ringers arrive have a settled team line up.

Again muchos gracias to the very patient Andy T who puts up with silly questions and me taking too long over who to activate next. Cheers buddy! Great game!

Next up are my purchases for this month.  It was my intention to start buying the members of the Union team that can play for the Fishermen this month.  They are as follows:-

Avarice and Greed

Hemlocke

Gutter

Snakeskin

Fangtooth

I reckoned for my £30 I could grab 2-3 of these guys and boost my options for my Fishermen but something came up that made me change my mind.  Whilst looking around eBay I stumbled upon a full Masons Team for sale.  The Masons are another of the Guilds that occupy the world of Guildball.  This seemed a good idea to me as it meant I would have two teams so could play at home with people who didn’t have a team, could teach others and generate local interest and most importantly practice and refine my Fishermens tactics.  They were a completely different style to the Fishermen.  Where the Fishermen are the Guildball equivilent of Blood Bowl’s Elves or Skaven the Masons are the equivilent of the Humans.  They don’t excel in any particular area and are good all rounders.

The Masons’ play style is all about balance and subtle flexibility. They have strong but not outstanding offensive and defensive options available to them. With a good mix of buffs and debuffs forming the foundation of their combo play, they need each other to excel.

They are equipped to play well during all phases of the game without a definitive focus on any key area, which is why they are the most flexible of teams to play. They have the tools and the play style to adapt to every situation, as long as you can piece them together properly.

Mason rewards players who can see and build play to effect combos, and then take advantage of any situation.

I was very lucky because the auction I was watching included all players in the team and wasn’t being watched by many people.  I silently watched and waited and at the last second put in my bid of £33.  With so little time left no-one could counter bid and it was accepted.  I had won!  So within a few days my full team would arrive courtesy of eBay.  I now had:

Honour

Harmony

Brick

Mallet

Marbles

Tower

Flint

Now this wasn;t in fact the FULL team as during October a Season 2 player was added to the Masons line up.  I had previously bought Sakana the Season 2 Fishermen and had a full and complete line-up.  It didnt feel right to now have a complete team so rather than be missing one I decided to push the boat out and really overspend this month by purchasing the metal miniature Chisel from Element Wargames for £8.95.  I felt justified in doing this becasue I had saved so much on my Masons team.  Rather than pay the £60 odd for a full Season 1 Masons line up I had in fact only paid £33 including shipping.  Happy days!

So total spend this month was as follows:-

Masons Season 1 Team – £33.00 (including shipping)

Chisel – Season 2 Mason – £8.95 + £2.95 shipping

Total spend – £44.90

Ok so I overspent but I can recoup it next month or simply write it off as a one of occasion like a birthday or bonus from work.  Im happy with my purchases and feel I can now make some strides forward in Guildball.

Happy Mancaving!

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Month 4 – Part 9)

Just a short update today as last night saw my second game of Guildball.  I had Andy T over to the Mancave for some medieval low fantasy football as his tried and tested Butchers took on my rejigged Fishermen.  Previously I had a game against Mark Southerd at NAGA where my Fishermen beat his Alchemists/Union 12-2.  Last night I changed my team knowing that they’d face a far tougher prospect in the Butchers.  I couldnt afford to give away easy kills with some of the squishier members of my team so I swapped out Angel for Sakana.

Here’s a bit of a report of the game as it went:-

Well that was painful.

Four takedown and a goal versus a goal from me. Ouch! Fishermens team was Shark, Salt, Jac, Sakana, Siren and Kraken.

So I had only my second game tonight against a very tanky Butchers team managed by Andy Thomas.

Shark, Salt, Jac, Sakana, Kraken and Siren vs Ox, Princess, Tenderiser, Brisket, Boar and Shank.

I received and secured the ball first activation with Shark who passed to Siren generating momentum and my team swept from the right flank down across my goal towards the left flank. The Butchers were brutally taking down my guys removing three (Kraken, Shark and Sakana) before I could score. Shark was first being soundly ganged up upon and beaten by three Butchers including Boar, Shank and Brisket.  Butchers 2-0 Fishermen 6-0

I managed to bring Shark back who came back close to Jac and Salt, who was now carrying the ball, on the left wing.  In the melee in the middle both Sakana and Kraken were beaten by Ox and Boar allowing my other teama members to use the pitch and keep out of trouble. Now with Shark back and in striking distance I loaded Shark with influence.   Running to about 9 inches out he then used his Tidal Surge Character play for 3 INF to dodge rather than Advance into Tenderisers area of influence to stop him getting his free charge. Shark shoots with a clear line of sight, Shark scores before spending some influence to dodge back out of the arc. Butchers 6-4 Fishermen.

The ball was kicked off and Andy dropped it dead centre of the pitch with all of his Butchers between my team and the ball.  Very quickly after kick-off the Butchers secured the ball with Brisket whilst Sakana and Kraken were off field.

Jac and Salt were doing good work on the wing supported by Shark and Siren.   Brisket dodged away, ran, set-up the supershot and scored before Sakana could drop the Smoke bomb to hide the goal. Sakana and Kraken just returning to play behind thier goal. 10-4

The ball was kicked off and I was hoping for some luck.  I tried to kick it into an area that I could hope to recover quickly.  Whilst not the greatest kick distance wise it was close enough to Jac and Salt that one of them might be able to recover.  Siren was very close to getting removed so attacked Shank to generate a dodge and left his melee area.  Spending he last INF to run she moved around the back of Jac and Salt and come back into the centre of the field and attempt to get to the ball. Following kick-off the ball ended up with Jac who didn’t have the range to pass to Shark on the wing so punted the ball to open field for Shark to grab it he then spent his remaining INF attempting to Goad Ox into moving towards him rather than charging Shark. He whiffed his roll and failed. Before Shark could activate and fire off his legendary play Ox charged him and brutally chopped Shark up over 3 attacks doing just enough damage again resulting in a take down, Sharks second of the game. One less damage or a successful Goad roll and things may have appeared closer in terms of final score but alas it was not to be

Final score12-4 to the Butchers.

I think I have a handle on getting around Tenderiser. I wasn’t that impressed with Sakana and I certainly missed the goal threat of Angel but in terms of survivability Sakana was better than Angel and did a fair amount of damage to Ox.  My difficult choice is which one from three to use…..Sakana, Angel or Greyscales.  Based on his Unpredictable Movement, Where’d he Go? and Ball Gone! Character plays he may be a better option.  I lose the Supershot of Angel but gain a slower, tougher, harder hitter with a bigger melee area to boot.  So in terms of controlling the pitch and taking the ball Greyscales may be the best option for me.

I didn’t get to take any pictures as Andy T was playing photographer and commentator via his phone.  I’ll ask him to share his pics with me.

**EDIT – here is a gallery of T’s pictures from last night. **

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Month 4 – Part 8)

Evening Mancavers!

So a few days into October and I can update the progress with my “gaming on a budget” article.  As followers of this blog will know I pledged to spend no more than £30 each month on a new game that I hadn’t ever played before.  I chose to invest in Guildball by Steamforged Games, a low fantasy medieval football game where each team is built up from Guild members.  The Guilds included the Alchemists, the Butchers, the Brewers, the Masons, the Morticians, the Engineers, the Union and the Fishermen.  I opted for the Fishermen a team all about movement and speed.

Last month saw Steamforged Games update their Season 2 information for Guildball and release information on some of the new players for each team.  My team, the Fishermen, will be getting Sakana.  Firstly he is a stunning looking render and with any luck when my Sakana arrives the miniature will be equally as impressive.

Sakana

Sakana Card Front

Sakana Card Back

Looking at Sakana in detail;-  Pros:

– Fast, even without influence

– Relatively durable (similar to Shark, just good DEF/ARM/HP).

– Actual momentous damage (hurray!)

– That push/dodge in column 5 could be very strong- if you can get Gut And String or a Knockdown on a 2+ defense player (even one with armor) you could get 8 inches of push on them for 4 influence. Pity it isn’t momentous.

Cons:

– Doesn’t really bring any control ability (knockdown, movement, debuffs)

– Poised means he’s gonna get knocked down a lot, which will probably get him killed

– Solves a problem that the Fish don’t really have in my opinion- I guess he can set up for a playbook result chain pretty well with Weak Point, but the best damage dealer the Fishermen can play at the moment is Gutter (Union) who already has Anatomical Precision and Fangtooth (also Union) could be pretty effective with it.

With all this in mind I was pretty much sold so Sakana was my first purchase this month.  He was £10-95 (in resin) and £8-95 (metal) directly from the Steamforged webstore but £8-05 from Element Wargames.  Both would incur me shipping of £2-95 so Element won out here.  Sure I’d love a resin version but as this is gaming on a budget I’d take the cheaper option.

Last month Andy Thomas and Mark Southerd put me onto a webstore called Blotz http://blotz.co.uk/ this website sold MDF scenery and had a rather good deal on some Guildball Goals in the form of some gibbets with a target hanging from them.  They looked fairly sturdy and nice little extras to add to my cheap pitch from a few months ago.  Looking at them I knew Id want at least 2 to paint up as basic goals and I;d also like to use one as the basis for a Fishermen specific goal to use with my team.

Blotz Gibbet with Target Guildball Goal.

Blotz Gibbet with Target Guildball Goal with miniature for scale.

You too can grab yourself a couple of these by going to the Blotz webpage on the link below.  At a very reasonable £3 each I thought I’d jump in and grab 3 for the reasons set out above.  I have plans to make Fishermen specific goals to compliment my team.

http://blotz.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24_124_123&products_id=613

Lastly, having bought the bare bones of a Fishermens goal for a team specific project I needed to start gathering some fishy accompaniments to build it up.  I’d seen various goals by other Guildball players and thought I;d try some similar sort of styles.  Using the Blotz goal I wanted to hang some kind of trophy from the gibbet.  I hunted around and found a source of 28mm sharks from the Reaper Dark Heaven range sold by Noble Knight Games in the US.

Reaper Dark Heaven 28mm Sharks

The shipping was a little steep though.  I looked locally and on EBay for a similar deal but couldn’t find one so eventually after some umming and oooing and aaahing I went for them.  They were $11-95 with $9-10 shipping which totalled to £13-87 after conversion.  I’d love some cheaper source of them so anyone who finds them please do let me know.

Thinking I was nearly at my budget I stopped there.  This months spend came to a total of:-

Sakana – £8-05 + £1-00 (Shipping*) = £9-05

Blotz Gibbet with Target x 3 – £9-00 + £2-80 = £11-80

Reaper Dark Heaven 28mm Sharks – £7-87 + £6-00 = £13-87

Total – £34-72

Yet again this month shipping has killed my attempts to stay on budget and mainly that shipping from the States for the Sharks.  Hopefully next month things will improve in that regard.  This month I will be scouring EBay looking for Guildball deals especially on the five Union Team members I am able to ally with my Fishermens team.  If a good deal comes up on a whole team then I might invest in that so I have two teams to play with at home.  Who knows eh….the world is my oyster (fishermens joke!)!

Im hoping to have my team ready for use in time for Mark Southerd’s upcoming tournament in January 2016 “The Heroic Play Open”.  A link to this to buy tickets can be found here:-

https://www.tiebreak.co.uk/the-heroic-play-open-2016/feed

Happy gaming Mancavers!

Jase

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Month 3 – Part 7)

Last night at NAGA in Nuneaton I was treated to a Guildball demo by one of the local demo guys for Steamforged and Club Member, Mark Southerd.  He’d been around giving demos to other potential players at the club and I had requested one so I could see what all the hype was about and hopefully get to grips with my team, the Fishermen.  I knew Mark from the LARP scene too and we had mutual friends in some of the guys who had pointed me at Guildball to begin with.  He was familiar with my monthly “gaming on a budget” challenge and knew that I already played/owned Fishermen

Mark brought along his demo pitch “The Proving Grounds” (available from the Steamforged webstore for £34-95 and comes with a neoprene backing for durability and a specially marked bag to roll the pitch up).  It allows you to play games on a 2′ x 2′ area for smaller 3 man per team games or on a 3′ x 3′ area for bigger 6 man team games.

Proving Grounds – Guildball Neoprene Pitch

Firstly despite the price this pitch is far better quality than the vinyl pitch I had printed by Pixelart Printing.  It was more of a mousemat type material and for playing smaller games is better.  Sadly as part of my challenge until these items come down in price I wont be able to afford one.  I’m happy with my current pitch but it does limit me to bigger games only.

My Vinyl Guildball pitch

I had already requested that I could use Marks Fishermen team versus a team of his choosing as I already owned the Fishermen and wanted to try and get to grips with their play style.

Fishermen – Guildball

Mark chose the Alchemists and subbed in a Union player, Hemlocke.

Union – Guildball 

Hemlocke – Union

The Union are like mercenaries and each player will play for the Union Team AND some of the other existing teams.  For example Hemlocke will play for both Alchemists and Fishermen.  I opted to fill my roster with Salt and Shark (in bigger games both the team mascot and Captain must be chosen), Kraken, Jac, Siren and Angel.  Siren, Angel and Salt are a little bit squishy compared to other players in the game but they have good synergy within the team and allow me to pull off some rather clever plays.  The Fishermen are all about speed, maneuverability and quick scoring.  They can drag opposition players out of position and pull their team mates away and out of “engagement” with enemy players.  I’d be attempting to use these abilities a lot as I didn’t want to get drawn into a fist fight with Marks team.

Jac – Fishermen

Kraken – Fishermen

Salt – Mascot – Fishermen

Shark – Captain – Fishermen

Siren – Fishermen

Angel – Fishermen

Mark had chosen Hemlocke (Union), Katalyst, Mercury, Vitriol, Midas and Flask (all Alchemists).

Alchemists – Guildball

Flask – Mascot – Alchemists

Katalyst – Alchemists

Vitriol – Alchemists

Midas – Alchemists

Mercury – Alchemists

The Alchemists are all about control of space using Area of Effect (AOE).  they can throw smoke bombs, they can combo some nasty conditions, set your players alight using fire.  Theyre a good opponent for Fishermen due to the way they play.  They’re about denial of opportunities by restricting where players can move and attack.  They are quick on their feet and capable with the ball, but not as resilient in combat as other teams. They excel in the early to mid-game due to their ability to cover a good amount of space.

On offense, Alchemists can use their AOEs almost as additional models in order to restrict the counter play options of their opponent. No one wants to charge the Alchemist with the ball if you have to go through an acid cloud!  On multiple occasions Mark dropped smoke bombs in front of his goal to deny clear shots from the faster, more maneuverable and better kicking Fishermen.  Damn him!

The game started tentatively with both teams probing and prodding whilst I got used to the rules and my team.  I looked at the cards for each player and positioned my team in positions where I felt I may be able to get a benefit for the synergy between them.

The Fishermen set-up closest with the combined Alchemists/Union at the far end.

Angel collects the Kick off.

The game started with Mark’s Alchemists kicking off to my Fishermen.  Having assigned influence to all my players I was then able to activate one of them and get the game going.  My team advanced quickly and Angel collected the ball deep in my half.  Kraken and Siren advanced on the left flank and Jac and Angel on the right.  Shark moved forward into centre field where he could benefit my team most.  As Marks team advanced his bigger tougher players pushed up against Kraken and Siren as Mercury set Shark on fire causing him to take damage at the end of the turn.  Hemlocke advanced on my right flank only to be engaged by Jac and latterly Salt who was pulled in to support Jac as he attacked Hemlocke.

As Marks plan became revealed it appeared he was going to use his players abilities to disrupt and damage my team as much as he could.  Marks team were very strong and full of damage causing abilities.  When a player takes damage they mark it off on their player card.  Once a player has taken as much damage as their card shows they are removed from play.  Each player has a number 1 and 2 on their health chart.  When a player returns to play using 1 Icy Sponge token they come back with as much health as the number 1 on their health chart.  When they use 2 Icy Sponges they come with the health indoicated by the number 2.  its a simple but effective system.  Due to the lower amount of hits my players had the less health I couldnt be drawn into a prolonged fight with Marks players.  I had to score quickly and keep away from his heavy hitters Katalyst and Mercury.

Kraken and Siren engaged Katalyst and Vitriol on my left as Mercury and Shark went toe to toe in centrre field.  Flask swept along behind the Alchemists lines blocking Marks goal by dropping smoke bombs.  Once they had dissipated I used Kraken and Siren to move Marks players aside as Angel advanced and shot for the goal.  GOAL FISHERMEN!!!!!

I had the momentum and was now ahead.  Scoring gave me 4VP and I had to get 12 to win.  4VP for a goal and and 2VP for putting a player out of action so it wouldnt be hard for Mark, the better and more experienced player to close that quickly.  Some bad rolling had left almost every member of my team suffering some form of damage so I had to be careful not to commit recklessly and to choose my activations carefully.  The kickoff scattered into mid field and Mark again set about setting my players on fire and poisoning them.  The damage added up quickly.  Angel was taken out by a severe beating from Katalyst.  He poisoned her, set her alight and removed her from the game.  He was quickly building momentum.  I had to stop him collecting the ball or he’d get an attempt at goal.  2VP to the Alchemists for removing Angel from play.  I was more worried about the loss of her skills and influence so had to get her back in the game as soon as possible.  When a player is removed from play they are granted an Icy Sponge token.  This means that when they get to the Maintenance Phase you can spend an Icy Sponge to return your player to the game at reduced health.

The Fishermen aren’t the hardiest of teams but their armour does help.  Siren was attacked by Mercury and the moment she activated she would be set alight…so I attempted to not activate her until I had a chance to either force Mercury away or dodge Siren away using the abilities of my other players.  Kraken used his influence to push Mercury away which granted a Momentum token too.  Shark advanced towards the Alchemists goal and used his Legendary play to affect all 5 of Marks Alchemists players who were all within 8″.  Now with their movement reduced my superior speed could be used.  Siren lured one of Marks defending players aside leaving a gap for my captain to move through.  Shark was now unmarked and upon activating rushed forward to grab the ball, he collected it and having evaded the AOE’s of Marks players fired a speculative attempt at the goal.  GOAL FISHERMEN.  That goal took the score to 8VP Fishermen versus 2VP Alchemists.  I was one score away from securing a victory.  I would first need to retrieve the ball and then find a way through the mass of players blocking the goal.

I used Angels Icy Sponge to return her to play.  When a player is returned they begin play at the edge of your teams deployment zone and can jog into play immediately.  I didnt want to gift mark an easy 2VP by making Angel easily caught by one of his players.  Salt and Jac were dealing with Hemlocke on my right and the left flank was advanced way upfield.  I re-entered far from any other player to preserve the influence she brought.  I would need her additional influence if I was to get the ball and score again.  Having secured the activation Mark grabbed the ball with Vitriol and threw down some smoke grenades to make it difficult to see of affect her.  Shark and Siren advanced chasing.  Flask was lurking nearby providing support and making it hard for Shark to affect Vitriol.  Siren had one last trick up her sleeve.  She was able to seduce Vitriol into passing her the ball.  With no intervening players it was a simple roll to take the ball from Vitriol and within close range of the goal I spent my momentum and final influence point on Siren to shoot at goal.  Score!  GOAL FISHERMAN!!!!  12VP to 2VP.

I had secured a difficult and costly win for my Fishermen.  I was reasonably happy but knew had I played a more “fighty” team I may have lost more players.  I was happy with how the Fishermen played and satisfied that I could happily use them again in the future and had invested in the right team for me.  Shark was awesome, Siren had been worth using and despite my love of Kraken I hadnt seen him live upto the potential I hoped he had.  Salt and Jac proved a useful combination when tag teaming against a lone isolated attacker in Hemlocke.  I had spread the goals around and seen some of the useful abilities my team could do.  Sharks Legendary play had really turned the game by trapping all 5 of Marks Alchemists in a net and reducing their movement.  This reduced movement had allowed my faster team to move through and past them and to isolate the ball carrier beforre stealing the ball.

I had a great evening and props go out to Mark Southerd who had taken the time to talk me through the finer points of Guildball.  We had a good chat about the future of Guildball both in general and at the club.  With Season 2 approaching and at least 4 new players coming up for the Fishermen I would be kept busy going forwards and have plenty to spend my “Gaming on a budget” pennies on.  We also discussed which Union players may suit the Fishermen and give me more play options.

The futures bright…the futures Fishermen!

Jase

Mancave update – Birthday and stuff

Sorry Mancavers….its been a while since I last posted because its been crazy here recently.  Most of August has been crazy busy with work and child summer holidays etc but stuff has been happening so bear with me whilst I try to paraphrase everything and start anew.

Firstly August was my birthday and my girls know me really well!  I was given a copy of Twin Shadows, the Tattooine expansion from Fantasy Flight Games for Star Wars Imperial Assault.  I also managed to get a set of extra dice for running my STIA campaign.  Both the girls seem to love it too….Phoebe has a thing for rolling dice and taking them in and out of bags and Grace has a worrying knack of rolling Evades on Defence dice.  I knew there was a reason I didn’t play her often!

Star Wars Imperial Assault Twin Shadows

The birthday also brought other goodies to the Mancave.  I invested in an Airbrush and Compressor for painting miniatures.  I opted for a deal from eBay and even though the airbrush provided isn’t the greatest it should allow me to develop my skills and improve.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Airbrush-Dual-Action-Paint-Spray-Gun-1-6hp-Compressor-Kit-Needle-Air-Brush-Set-/181327198835?hash=item2a37f17a73

Ooooo….a big white box…what could it be?

Well well well….its a Compressor for my airbrush.

My new Airbrush Compressor…just waiting on my Iwata Neo now!

I also bought an Iwata Neo Airbrush for when my mad crazy lack of painting skills improve enough to warrant a better quality airbush, then I’ll use the cheap one provided with my compressor for things like priming and painting scenery.  The two brands and models highly recommended were the Iwata Neo and Badger Patriot 105.  I opted for the Iwata Neo.

Iwata Neo Airbrush

So I’m definitely looking forward to getting involved and practising with my airbrush.  To prompt me to do more I’ve also entered a monthly painting competition with some of the PRODOS guys on the Warzone Facebook page.  Each month we’ll be taking a mini or unit from sprue to final painting.  Its more of a painters support group rather than a serious competition.  Damn you Evans!

Lastly as an impulse purchase the Mancave has received an upgrade……..we bought a Barcrest Aliens Fruit Machine!!!!  Yes we have a fruit machine in the Mancave.  Its crazy awesome!

The Mancave – before…..

The Mancave – after by dark…..

The Mancave – after by light…..

The Aliens Fruit Machine

I have actually managed to get some gaming in this month too.  Ive been getting involved with Star Wars Armada, building fleet lists and tweaking my builds but only managed 1 serious competitive game.  I grabbed a cheap Gladiator Class Destroyer off eBay to help me build something I’ve been planning.  I’m considering running a swarm of Gladiators rather than using the Victory Class Star destroyers as they’re more maneuverable.  One of the Admirals available to my Imperials, Admiral Motti, will grant extra hull points to each of them so they can be a little tougher when engaging those Rebel Assault Frigates.

Star Wars Armada Gladiator Class SD

I’ve had my first competitive game of Star Wars Armada against Dave Baxter at NAGA.  My Imperial Fleet comprising of two Victory Class Star Destroyers with upgrades, 6 squadrons of TIE Bombers and 2 Squadrons of TIE Interceptors as Escorts managed to eek out a technical victory against Dave’s Rebel List of an Assault Frigate, two Corvettes and 8 squadrons of X-Wings.  It was a tight game but after one of my VSD’s was destroyed by focus fire Dave’s Assault Frigate was forced off the board and unable to turn quickly enough he lost it.  178-165 to the Imperial Fleet!

Last night saw a defence of my position in the NAGA X-Wing League against a very determined Scott Russell and his Psycho Tycho and Outrider Dash combo.  As soon as Scott sends me his fleet list I’ll post it as a comment on this post.  My Imperial Fleet consisted of the following:-

Darth Vader (32) TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Calculation (1), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

Colonel Jendon (43) Lambda-Class Shuttle (26), Fire-Control System (2), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Emperor Palpatine (8), ST-321 (3)

Lieutenant Colzet (25) TIE Advanced (23), TIE/x1 (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

Colzet’s TIE Advanced (left) and Vader’s TIE Advanced (right) flank Colonel Jendon’s Lambda bearing Emperor Palpatine.

My Fleet less the Twin Ion Engines (unshown)

The idea was to advance slowly using Jendon to Target Lock the biggest threat and pass his Targets Locks off to Vader and Colzet.  With the constant Target Locks and ability to K-turn and close quickly using soft 3 greens I could try to slide past the rebel ships and take down the biggest threats.  Scott’s fleet closed very quickly using 2-3 actions per ship and stressing itself to ridiculous levels allowing his two ships to strip shields from Jendons Lambda but my twin TIE Advanced’s both assaulted Tycho and closed quickly not allowing Dash’s Outrider to use its Heavy Laser Cannon at R2-3.  The setting of dice from Palpatine really saved the day as neither TIE Advanced even took damage.  My three ships destroyed Tycho in a couple of turns even with his ridiculous numbers of evade dice.  He parked on an asteroid and without a shot Colzet and Vader tore him to pieces as Jendon stopped dead and caused Dash to smash into the back of him.  Now with three ships versus Scotts 1 it was merely a matter of time before Colzet and Vader did the business and finished Dash off.  After 5 turns with Dash whittling a few hits off the Lambda every round it eventually fell and was destroyed onto to have Colzet sweep in and finish it off for the win.  Victory to my Imperial fleet.

So all in all its been a really busy time here.  I have made a vow to attempt to post more often following a super bust August including my daughters Summer Holidays.

I started painting my Xenos from my AvP core box set.  I’m not going with anything clever just a nice clean table quality paint job.  Grace, my eldest daughter, wanted to have a go at painting one herself so I helped her assemble and glue one of the Xenos before helping her prime it and drybrush it.  All her won work but once its based and finished (during her next visit) I’m sure that it will be very difficult to distinguish between hers and mine.  She’s better than I gave her credit for!

I’m hitting them up with a Black Prime basecoat, then drybrushing the highest points with Pure Silver from the P3 range, following that a wash of Nuln Oil from GW to add depth before spraying a Satin Varnish all over to protect the paint.  Only once this is dry will I start to paint the domes of the Xeno heads with GW’s ‘Ardcoat to add a wet look.  Heres some WiP shots of my work so far.

Next week I’ll be getting a demo for Guildball from Mark Southerd at NAGA so I’ll finally get a chance to play my fishermen team against his Alchemists.  he’s not only a very good player but also a professional demo guy for it so I should be on the wrong end of a beating!  Im still doing my “Gaming on a Budget” series of articles and will be posting one as soon as I decide what this months purchases will be.

Over and out for now Mancavers!

Watch this space for more Mancave updates.  There will be Star Trek Attack Wing updates as the new waves drop, Star Wars X-Wing updates including hopefully a glimpse of the new core set from Fantasy Flight Games for The Force Awakens, a review of the new Smash-Up:Munchkin and hopefully more updates on painting all my AvP stuff.  With so much going on its going to be a very busy time!

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Month 2 – Part 5)

Morning Mancavers,

Last month we started our “gaming on a budget” feature with the aim of spending no more than £30 per month on a new game we hadn’t invested in before.  I decided to get involved with a low fantasy Medieval football style game by Steamforged Games called Guildball.  Having taken a look at the teams available and gotten some advice from friends and forums I opted to purchase the Fishermens Guild.  With their combination of maneuverability and speed they would be the best option for me.

Last month I bought the Fishermens Guild Season 1 Starter Box which came with 3 miniatures (Angel, Siren and Shark), a ball and some data cards for each player the miniatures represent.  I really really wanted one of the other team players called Kraken so I bought him too.  At this point I had slightly gone over my planned budget of £30 and I think including postage it cost me a total of about £34.80 leaving me short this month.

Starting out I only had about £25-26 to play with.  I initially decided to add in two new players to give my team more flexibility in terms of tactics and options.  I went for Greyscales and Jac.

Jac – Fishermen’s Guild

Greyscales – Fishermen’s Guild

Also to get my team going I opted to purchase some MicroArt Studios bases.  The only option I feel really matches anything like the feel I’m looking for my Fishermen is:-

Wood

These are nice and look like a ruined jetty or pier.  I picked up a set of 40mm bases (for Kraken) and a set of 30mm bases for everyone else.

A selection of DS Round 30mm “Wood” by MicroArt Studios

A selection of DS Round 30mm “Wood” by MicroArt Studios

In total my spend came to:-

Greyscales – £8.05

Jac – £8.05

2 x MicroArt 40mm DS Round “Wood” Bases – £3.60

5 x MicroArt 30mm DS Round “Wood Bases – £3.60

All in all I spend £23.30 + P&P which rounds me off to roughly £26 this month.  I should now have enough miniatures to give me options when putting together a team.  I really need to get involved and start playing with the Guildballers locally (the Andy’s, Pam, Jason W & Mark S) and have a read of the rules and build a pitch.  One of the things that really draws me to the game is the fact that I dont have to spend a lot of money on a fancy rulebook.  Its free to download!!  If you have been following this little endeavour of mine and have been thinking you too would like to get involved then why dont you download a copy of the rules and take a look for yourself.

http://guildball.com/Guildball_QPR_Public1.0.pdf

I can also go onto the Guildball Forums to pick up tactics and general Guildball advice.  Here is a link:-

http://guildball.com/forums/index.php?/index

Oh the hobbying never ends in the Mancave!  There will be more updates to share with you guys soon.

Ive been very busy making my Alien Versus predator minis and building an Aerial Hunter Killer from Pegasus Hobbies for my Terminator Genisys…..but more on these in a later update.

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Part 4)

So as part of my “Gaming on a Budget” series of articles Im going to be attempting to buy, within my budget, and paint some miniatures every month allowing me to get involved in a new game.  The new game I chose was SteamForged Games Guildball.  I decided to invest in the Fishermen’s Guild team.

In Part 2 I assembled and primed my minis and over the last two days have decided to attempt to paint my first miniature in over 18 years.  I started with Kraken.

Kraken, Fishermens Guild Centre Back.

Kraken, Fishermens Guild Centre Back.

The parts of the Kraken miniature from SteamForged Games.

Kraken, assembled and primed

The gangs all here.

After priming him Matt White I started to look online for some inspiration for colours and to a relative painting novice like myself it was a bit daunting to see so many excellently painted examples of my miniature.  I wanted a dark gritty look unlike some of the brighter examples I had seen.

I would be using Army Painter Paints and had settled on a plan to block out some areas before applying a Quickshade wash over everything before hitting the highlights with some basic drybrushing.

I wanted to prime the miniature with Barbarian Flesh over everything to get good coverage on the skin but couldn’t find any at Black Dragon Miniatures in Hinckley so settled on Matt White instead.

Flesh – Base Barbarian Flesh > Soft Tone Quickshade > Barbarian Flesh/Skeleton Bone 50/50 > Drybrush Skeleton Bone > Highlight raised areas with Skeleton Bone/Matt White 50/50

Trousers and Right arm gauntlet – Base Ultramarine Blue > Blue Tone Quickshade > Drybrush Crystal Blue

Rope – Base Desert Yellow > Dark Tone Quickshade > Drybrush Skeleton Bone

Metallics – Base Shining Silver > Dark Tone Quickshade > Drybrush Shining Silver

Fur – Base Uniform Grey > Dark Tone Quickshade > Drybrush Matt White

Leatherwork – Base Leather Brown > Dark Tone Quickshade > Drybrush Leather Brown/Skeleton Bone 50/50

He’s still not entirely finished as he requires fixing to a base, to have his coil of rope painted for his Harpoon and a spot of varnish just to protect his paint but I’m happy enough that he’s a tabletop level for gaming.

What do you think?

Let me know what you think.  C&C invited and appreciated.  Not too shabby for 18 years away from painting minis.  I like the limited palette which should give my team a dark unified look on the field.

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Part 3)

In the third part of my “Gaming on a Budget” article Im going to look at Bases with a view to getting some further down the line to unify my team.

A good set of characterful bases can make or break a unit or team in any game and getting the right ones is a very difficult thing to achieve.  There are so many producers out there who make them; Outpost, MicroArt Studios, Fenris Games, Bases4War, Model Display Products, Wyrd Miniatures, and the list goes on……

Today I’m going to look at the options available for my Fisherman’s Guild Team.

Firstly there are a number of options, shapes, sizes and styles to consider.  You can buy square bases, round bases, hexagonal bases, oval bases and “cavalry” bases which are pill shaped.  Guildball uses round bases so that makes that decision easier.  Straight out of the box my Fisherman’s Guild team were supplied with the correct size of base for their miniature in a DS style.  What does this mean?  Well there are three styles of bases to choose from:-

DS Round Profile Base – image credit to Fenris Games.

DS Round means a quarter round lipped base with a flat circular recess area on the top for the insertion of a “topper”.  Many companies such as PRODOS and SteamForged use bases of this type.

Chamfered Profile Base – image credit to Fenris Games.

Chamfered means a base with a slightly slanting edge which can help in identifying miniatures because you can use them for Team numbers and Names, especially useful in Necromunda and Blood Bowl etc.  These are the standard GW Warhammer 40K base.  They can come with a flat recess on the top to insert a topper some do not.

Straight Profile Base – image credit to Fenris Games.

The last option is a Straight Profile base.  These bases do not come with a recess or any kind of edge.  Base toppers look very much like this.

My first option is my go to guys for bases Fenris Games. They make resin bases in all the styles discussed above.  I have used them before (for the Sulaco & Sulaco Hive bases for my AvP) and can heartily recommend them.  The options here for my Fishermen are:-

Darkmere Swamp

Lost Shores

Oddly neither of these are really grabbing my attention as a set of bases.

My second option are Bases4War.  I’ve also used these guys to produce my Battlefield Debris DS Round resin bases for my Cybertronic forces in PRODOS Games Warzone Resurrection.  They shipped quickly, were cheap and did free UK shipping so again they come well recommended.  The option I could go with here is:-

The Deck

My fear in using these bases is that my Fisherman team would look a little piratey but they’re not a bad option.  I prefer them to the Fenris Bases so far.

My third option is MicroArt Studio who are based in Poland.  I’ve never used these guys before but they came well recommended by many people.  An issue here is timing.  The company website says they only get two visits from the postie a week so I could order on a Monday and not get my stuff dispatched until the Friday (not allowing for manufacturing time).  Also the extra time taken in delivery is a factor as they will take significantly longer and probably accrue additional; postage costs.  The only option I feel really matches anything like the feel I’m looking for my Fishermen is:-

Wood

These are nice and look like a ruined jetty or pier.  They could suffer the same piratey issues as The Deck from Bases4War.

My next option for bases are Model Display Products.  I’d not heard of these guys before I posted on the Guildball Forum but having a taken a look at their website I was quietly impressed and could see why they were being discussed.  They had some nice bases I might be interested in for other projects but in terms of options for my team one stood out at a first glance:-

Dock/Quayside

I quite liked the wooden effect, like the deck of a ship or pier/jetty (which seems to be a theme for sea/marine flavoured bases) but wasn’t too keen on the cobblestone bases as part of the set.  If I wanted cobblestones there were other ranges I’d choose.

Outpost were one of the options I picked up from using the Guildball forums.  Some people had recommended them but I think they are resellers of others bases rather than producers in their own right.  I had heard good things about Outpost from Hairy Gamer Tris and Gareth Mosely so figured I’d give them a crack.  Aside from previously discussed bases and styles the only one that jumped out at me as being a viable option was:-

Hit the deck!

They sound interesting but unfortunately I cannot see any images for them as they’re out of stock.  I think I may like them but its whether they’d suffer the “too piratey” problem of The Deck from Bases4War.

Its certainly a tough one for me and of course I could always do my own bases?  I could make some flocky grassed bases with lines painted on them as I would have done for Blood Bowl or could make some nautical/marine themed bases.  I don’t really have many ideas for doing this myself at present and Im struggling for base inspiration.  If any readers of this blog have done some home-made Fisherman’s Guild bases then please let me know and post a comment with a picture.

For now I’m going to sign off and cogitate my options.  Hopefully Outpost will get a restock and allow me to view the finished Hit the Deck bases.

Happy fishing my little Guildballing friends!

Gaming on a budget – The Challenge (Part 2)

In the second part of my monthly “gaming on a budget” articles Im going to look at the Guildball miniatures from Element Games for the Fishermen’s Guild.

For those that haven’t heard of it, Guild Ball is a new medieval low fantasy based skirmish ball game made by Steamforged Games. Gamers take control of one of several Guilds, ranging from Masons to Morticians, Brewers to Butchers, with the goal of either scoring more goals than your opponent or leaving them in such a shape that they are unable to do the same to you.  As previously mentioned I had selected the Fisherman’s Guild based on discussions with friends and game developers who agreed that their style suited the way I liked to play my Blood Bowl teams – hard, fast and agile.

“Fisherman play style is all about movement and raw goal-scoring potential. They are dominant in the early game and can easily draw one or two goals ahead very quickly. However, mid to late game they need to be wary, especially if they lose a player or two.

They excel at movement and kicking the ball – they are practically all about offense. Their combo play revolves around (re)positioning and exploitation of space.

Whilst not entirely equipped with raw damage soaking defence, they instead have far subtler defensive options that focus much more on space control.”

My Fisherman’s Guild Starter Set and Kraken arrived yesterday at the Mancave and with reckless abandon I tore into the packaging ready to explore the goodies within……then I remembered I was writing this so put everything back as it was and went about it in a far more sensible and less Jase way.

Fishermen Guild

Guildball goodies from Element Games.

Fisherman’s Guild Starter Set.

Kraken, Fisherman’s Guild Expansion.

My Fisherman’s Guild Team.

Once I had managed to debox the miniatures I could see just how detailed and defined they actually were.  There wasn;t too much flash or sprue to remove from each so assembly was pretty easy.  There is a level of finesse to handling some of these components which isn’t compatible with my lack of dexterity, shaky hands and terrible eyesight.

These sculpts are so fine, and have so much detail it can be a little intimidating to a novice or out of practice hobbyist such as myself. I wanted to temporarily pin and base all the figures while painting, but some models are that slim on the ankles that it would be almost impossible to do and could cause irrecoverable damage to the miniature plus only Kraken really needed it in the end.  The only issue I saw during assembly of note were the tabs on the miniatures and the slots in bases.  The combination of these did not make it easy to have the miniatures standing steadily on the base.  Kraken would not stand up at all and not wanting to permanently mount him to a base I drilled into his foot to slide a pin in to make painting and basing easier later.

Kraken.

The Siren.

Angel.

In my haste to get things deboxed I completely forgot to take any pictures of Shark, the Fisherman Team Captain but there will be some pictures of him later!  There are a couple of schools of thought about painting miniatures, some prefer to keep components separate and others prefer to assemble prior to painting.  Not wanting to ruin a paint job with clumsy gluign and assembly I decided to assemble my miniatures first then lay down some paint.

Not being the most patient of folk I really cant stand sitting for ages waiting for glue to dry so some time ago I purchases some Superglue Activator from Army Painter and boy oh boy is this stuff good!  A quick dab of glue in the right area and hold the mini together whilst a glamorous (if a little sadistic) assistant sprays activator onto the affected area.  I now know first hand how much Superglue Activator in small cuts and open wounds can hurt.  That’ll teach me for chewing nails and fingers!

Having prepped everything I was ready to lay down some primer.  I originally wanted to throw some Barbarian Flesh onto all the minis to give their skin a solid base but I couldnt find any so I went with Matt White.  My colours for the team would be a tan leather, ice blue and white possibly adding some darker blue for accents so white was hardly the end of the world for these minis.

Primed Kraken.

Primed Siren.

Primed Shark and Angel.

Krakens coiled rope for his Harpoon, Primed.

The gangs all here!

Now the minis had been undercoated they’d dry very quickly in this heat and it wouldnt be long before I could slap some real paint on them but by this time it was quite late and glamorous assistant was demanding bed, so maybe tomorrow.

All finished, dry and ready for colour.

A good nights work!

Thats it for part 2 of my “Gaming on a Budget” article featuring Guildballs Fisherman’s Guild team.  I’ll post an update once I’ve starter the painting process or have an update to post.  I will need some bases for these guys so that may form an article later discussing the options there for me.